Engineering a little happiness through the world of crafting

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Monthly Archives: February 2007

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Do you know who he is? He’s Oprah’s party planner extraordinaire. Anyway, the other day I happened to catch a few minutes of Oprah. My husband thinks that I watch it everyday with my feet up, eating bon bons (who does that?) but that’s so not true. So, I did see a few minutes the other day when Colin Cowie was on. They showed his luxurious NYC apartment. Fabulous. One thing that I found very cool was that he had wrapped gifts on his bookshelf, ready to go for gift giving. Now, I realize that many people (my MIL is really good at this) have gifts stashed away for those moments in life that you just need one. But he had them wrapped and ready to go on his bookshelf… like artwork or something. He said he buys pretty, scented candles, and or bottles of wine or things like that and wraps them all at the same time. Then when he goes to a dinner party (again, who does that?), he never goes empty handed. He probably doesn’t frequent Chick-fil-a, like I do. So, where am I going with this? Well, I recently purchased these sturdy (I’m actually impressed) little, plastic boxes that hold 8 cards and 8 envelopes. I bought them from a lady on SCS (where else? :)). This morning, I went through some of my stash of cards and made up 5 boxes of these, tied a ribbon, added a tag… and voila… 5 presents ready for the giving. My son’s preschool teacher from last year is having a b’day this week (and we really like her), so we’ll give one to her. So, it may not be fancy, schmancy wine or candles, but it works for me and I’m so impressed that I actually have something ready to go when I need it (all my life, my mother has told me to do something like this… well, here we are). I’ll have to call her and tell her that I’ve finally done it.

Those of you that know me, know that I claim to be “bow-tarded”. I think I’m cured. A couple of weeks ago, I had a workshop where I had leftover cut card stock. I decided to make up those cards tonight to put in my stash. It’s one of my favorite cards, so it was easy to get motivated to finish them up. It uses the Dazzling Diamond Dust technique. Anyway, I usually tie a knot whenever I use ribbon but for some reason tonight, I thought I’d try a bow! OMG! (Angela, if you read this, I know you’re not wanting to try it!) It’s easy! Maybe it’s because I used organdy and not grosgrain. I’m so excited. Of course, a knot is still easier. The card is Certainly Celery, with layers of Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue, Basic Black, and Whisper White. LOOK at that bow! 🙂

Last fall, my oldest boy started playing soccer. What a hoot! Anyway, at the end of the season, I made paper bag scrapbooks for the team showcasing some of the highlights of the season. It was a fun project and I enjoyed making them. I gave each player (6 including my son) the scrapbook at the pizza party. One of the scrapbooks accidentally got ruined a few days after the party. I knew the mom felt awful and she asked if I would make another one. Well, here it is THREE months later (Sorry for the delay!), but I worked on it tonight and it’s done. Now, I’ve blurred out the picture on the front of the little boy – I’m kinda freaky about that. I’m sure you’ve all noticed that I don’t call my boys by their names on here. Don’t know why… just freaky. Anyway, here it is. The color for the team was similar to Glorious Green.

Did you ever see that movie? Of course, that probably dates me. Hmm… Anyway, I was talking to my friend, Michelle, today and she was telling me that she’s out of these 3×3 cards that she and I made one night a long time ago. We made a bunch – boy birthday, girl birthday, baby shower enclosures, you name it. Those are great for putting in the gift bag for all those 4 year-olds turning 5 years-old birthday parties. Anyway, she said she’s out of the boy ones. Go figure. We both have boys and we’re at the age (well, our boys are), where they get invited to more boy parties than girl parties. So, back to the planes, trains, thing… I decided I’d make her some cards tonight – quick ones and I still have a bunch of those red 3×3 cards and envelopes that SU! sold last year. I made 36 – 18 for her and 18 for me. All boy designs. Nothing spectacular but then again, they’re headed straight for the trash after being opened. Michelle and I used to get together (it helps that she lives in the same neighborhood) once or twice a month and crank out tons of cards in an evening. One time, we made 100 cards (regular size cards) – 5 designs between 8pm and midnight. We were stampin’ machines! Anyway, those were the days before second children and before I became a demo. So, Michelle has an infant now and I thought it would be nice to give her some of these cards. Some day soon, she and I will stamp together again. So, right, planes, trains (okay, no trains), automobiles, a few spaceships, a couple of helicopters, and a tractor here or there. That’s what I stamped 36 of.

How fun is that? My baby is turning one next week. First, how did that happen? I can’t believe it. I still feel like I was “just” pregnant. HA! Anyway, his big brother picked Disney’s Cars as the theme for the baby’s birthday party. It’s going to be a small family gathering but I still had to make the invitations. I saw a tractor tipped over on a card on SCS by copsmonkey so I had to CASE it. I used a different quote from the movie so that my family would get it – I don’t think they’ve all seen the movie (Can you believe that?) Of course, they don’t all have small children around and HAVE to watch it 100 times. I think it turned out cute. Do you think so?

Happy Birthday Anna! Happy ONE! Anna and my son are in music class together. And Anna’s mom, Amy stamps with me sometimes. For Anna’s birthday, I made her a girlie (don’t get to do that very often around here!) frame for her room. Here’s a picture of it. I had to paint the frame white too. It was a brown color and it didn’t really go with the girlie colors! Amy liked it! We sang Happy Birthday to Anna at music class today. I can’t believe she’s one!

Last chance to place your $50 (before s/h and tax) to get the FREE stamps!

Anyway, last night’s class featured the 5 stamp sets offered in the SAB mini catalog. I got most of the ideas from Splitcoast and must credit the original creator!

First, using the Delight in Life set, I CASED this from twoboysandagirl. I changed it a bit but not much.

Next, I CASED this violet creation using Happy Harmony from bethannwilson.

I designed this Big Blossom card. I really like the Marigold color that SU! came out with as one of this year’s six In Colors. Marigold and Perfect Plum look so nice together. Do you think so? And the saying is from my new favorite word set – the Small Sayings in the Winter Mini.

The So Very set is pretty useful. I didn’t like it that much in the beginning but now I’ve seen all kinds of things done with this set. My design is CASED from lov my dolly.
Last is the Very Punny set. I used this card from Jeanne S as inspiration. The colors used are Cool Carribean and Basic Black. It looks pretty sharp.